Google Spirit: The Nexus 4 reviewed

Utterly beautiful and on the bleeding edge of technology, this is all that is needed to describe the Nexus 4.

Nexus Heritage

With super fast specifications, a killer design and a price tag that is almost too good to be true, the Nexus 4, at least on paper, proves to be a phone that is just simply awesome. But does it really live up to all the hype? Well read on to find out!

Design and Handling

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The previous Nexus was a design that stood the test of time: from the Galaxy S3 to the HTC One X, nothing really topped the Galaxy Nexus’ sleek lines and slate-like fascia, until the Nexus 4 that is. With LG’s patented “Crystal Reflective Process” which is the reflective pattern that adorns the glass back, a beautifully flushed camera unit, a chromed banding and a rubber-like grip surrounding the sides of the phone, the Nexus 4 is arguably one of the sexiest phones available to date. The Nexus 5 may look more mature but it is the Nexus 4 that is the phone that will make you go “Woooooooooooow!” the first time you see it.

The lovely reflective adornments

With a 4.7 inch display and a body that looks smaller than the display, handling is absolutely top notch in a phone with a such a display size. The Nexus 4 is a phone that is extremely easy to use one handed. Holding the phone with my right hand in the natural position to hold the Nexus 4 which is in the lower part of the back, my thumb easily reaches the top of the display, on the opposite side! The same cannot be said for the Nexus 4’s competitors like the Samsung Galaxy S3\S4 or the HTC One or in fact any 5-inch phone out there. The Nexus 4 truly hits a sweet spot with these dimensions and screen size.

Easy to handle

However, the downsides of a phone clad entirely in glass is quite evident – ala iPhone 4, cracked backs and all. So if you own a Nexus 4, do handle it with care and don’t drop it at all costs!

Hardware

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Striking Qualcomm’s, at that time, newest chipset, the quad core Snapdragon S4 Pro, the Nexus 4 really holds up, performance wise, even to this day. With the latest smartphone monsters coming out with stupidly fast processors clocked in at upwards of 2.2GHz, the Nexus 4’s quad core 1.5GHz unit does wither in the shadow of the insanely fast Snapdragon 800s and Tegra 4s. But of course, the Nexus 4 is as nippy and buttery smooth as it ever was and that is a fact that doesn’t change even though it isn’t the fastest phone anymore.

Stutter free

The Adreno 320 graphics chip ensures that every game in the Play Store is rendered gloriously and stutter free. Real Racing 3 however did tax the Nexus 4’s GPU quite a bit, most probably due to lack of optimisation, but with the app called “RR3 GFX” you can reduce the graphics level to medium to ensure maximum performance. Other games like Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City played stutter free, even at extremely high graphics settings for GTA. That is truly a great testament to the extent in which mobile development has reached, where just 10 years ago it would have taken a high end Pentium 4 running at over 3GHz and an expensive graphics card just to run Grand Theft Auto Vice City at the graphics and resolution that the Nexus 4 is capable of.

DISPLAY

With a 4.7 inch True HD IPS+ LCD display that outputs a resolution of 1280×768 at an impressive 318 pixels per inch, you won’t be left wanting more in the display side of the Nexus 4. Pixels are obviously impossible to distinguish, a fact that we’ve come to be accustomed with since the iPhone 4’s retina display. Viewing angles are exceptionally brilliant with little hue distortion even while viewing the display from stupid angles. Some reviewers have lamented about the lack of colour vibrancy that the Nexus 4’s display manages to put out but don’t be fooled by such views – the Nexus 4’s IPS LCD display is as natural as displays get. It isn’t as heavily saturated as a display like say, the one on the Galaxy S4 which uses a SuperAMOLED 3 display and it isn’t as dull as an Xperia Z’s TFT-LCD display. It’s in the sweet spot of display technology.

Pin sharp.

And for the first time on an Android device, Qi Wireless charging makes a debut. For the uninformed, Qi wireless charging is basically an international standard for wireless charging. I will write a review about wireless chargers soon and I will go further in detail about how wireless chargers work.

Wireless Charging

The usual sensors that populate every current smartphone are unsurprisingly, present. Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, GPS unit etc. There is however, one curious addition to the Nexus 4’s array of sensors – a barometer. Why would anyone need a barometer in their pocket? Well its no conspiracy, its only use is to accurately measure altitude using changes in the atmospheric pressure and this data allows GPS systems to work more efficiently. For example, if you are driving under a bridge, the GPS and barometer can detect that you are under the bridge and not over it, preventing any possibility of erroneous route rerouting.

CONNECTIVITY

Now then, on to the Nexus 4’s Achilles Heel. Lack of 4G LTE. What high end phone that is released well into the maturity of LTE doesn’t come with LTE support? Nada! Zilch! The Galaxy S3 had LTE support and so did the HTC One XL and so did the Xperia Z and so did the HTC Butterfly and so did the LG Optimus G and so on and so forth.

The inherent lack of 4G LTE is inexcusable.

In the central business district of Singapore, having and not having LTE connectivity makes a world of difference. Where it would take a DC-HSDPA connected phone forever to load a webpage or check the bus timings, the LTE connected phone will just breeze through everything. That said however, in the less densely populated regions of Singapore like in the suburbs, the DC-HSDPA Nexus 4 does perform adequately with speeds upwards of 8Mbps down and 1Mbps up. Of course this is nothing compared to LTE connected phones like my old Xperia Z which managed to put out a whopping 45Mbps down and 23Mbps up. That’s why its called “Long Term Evolution”.

The lack of LTE is a deal breaker for anyone who is living and working in areas with LTE coverage – that is the entire country for me. It is a massive disadvantage not having LTE. Streaming videos takes much longer over DC-HSDPA than LTE. However, browsing the web is equally as speedy as LTE so there is after all some saving grace to the dignity of the Nexus 4.

WiFi speeds and range are on par with other smartphones. The ability to connect to 2.4GHz as well as 5GHz networks is quite a nice addition. Bluetooth and NFC also makes an appearance here…. BUT WHERE IS USB OTG?! How could the Nexus 4 not support USB OTG?!?! Well the blame is to be pointed at LG for handicapping the Nexus 4’s USB controller and not allowing it to output a full 5V. But still, the lack of USB OTG is another inexcusable non-addition.

CAMERAS

Packing an 8MP sensor, the Nexus 4’s camera unit is pretty good with decent colour reproduction and perfectly acceptable levels of digital noise. Shot to shot time is remarkable too, just barely over 0.4s to the next shot. Details do get a bit washed out in overcast days and less than optimal lighting conditions so some post processing is needed to bring pictures shot with the Nexus 4 up to spec. And forget about low light shots without the flash. Yeah the shot won’t be as noisy as say an Xperia Z but then again, how can a shot be noisy if you can’t even make out any details? At least in an Xperia Z, the camera is smart enough to bump up the ISO to some crazy value to create a usable shot, but then again, that’s also not such a good thing.

Shot at Little Guilin at around 7:15PM so it should be representative of the low light performance

As for video recording, just base your expectations of it as per every smartphone out there and you’ll be satisfied. With a maximum resolution of 1920×1080 @ 30fps and noting that middling sensor, its not groundbreaking but its also not terrible.

The front facing shooter packs in a standard-affair 1.3MP sensor that struggles with low light and always manages to flare up in daylight. However, its qualities are sufficient for videoconferencing needs.

AUDIO

As with every device that utilises the DAC in the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4/600/800, audio fidelity is pitiful, especially when paired with more demanding audio equipment like high resistance headphones or IEMs. The power that is being supplied by the DAC is simply too low… that is of course until you pair it with a decent amplifier. The Nexus 4 makes for a very excellent source to be amplified – details are not lost even at levels of volume that are simply intolerable to listen to. This is particularly due to the intricately balanced sound that the Qualcomm DAC produces.

Of course, if you’re not an audiophile and listen to your music on bundled earbuds or the rather excellent Apple EarPods (which I personally use on the Nexus 4), these shortcomings do not matter at all.

The speaker on the Nexus 4 is quite abysmal with less than adequate volume and a musicality which is as dynamic and lively as a piezoelectric buzzer. Jokes aside, the Nexus 4’s speaker is passable but you wouldn’t want to use it to rock the house.

Dual microphones help to eliminate background noise and leave your voice untouched. In practice, it works pretty well! In crowded malls I managed to eke out a call to a friend and the call quality was pristine.

BATTERY LIFE

A sealed 2100mAh Lithium Ion cell is all there is to get you by during the times when you are not tethered to a wall socket. That really is the only way to describe the battery of the Nexus 4 without violent insults. It really feels like an afterthought: it’s almost as if after LG and Google designed the phone’s innards and exterior did they realise “We’ve forgot the battery! Now where’s that spare one lying around”. You’ll be lucky to pull out more than 3 hours of on screen time, browsing the Web and all. With moderate to heavy usage which includes long stints with the browser and a 20 minute gaming session with Real Racing 3, I managed to barely pull out 7 hours including standby times. That is, to simply put it, a PATHETIC battery life. Of course when used in more moderation i.e less browsing, less on screen time, just making calls and texts, the Nexus 4 can easily pull a days worth of battery. But is that not a similar situation with every smartphone out there?

Battery advice: Reduce screen brightness, the IPS+ LCD display is a power hog. Also, keep a battery pack handy. Don’t bother turning off NFC like every other stupid tech illiterate reviewer would say. NFC consumes far less battery than it takes to power the notification LED.

Software

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Back in late 2012 when the Nexus 4 was debuted, it was released with Android 4.2 Jellybean which was at that time the newest version of Android. One year later, the Nexus 4 is running the latest version of Android, 4.4 KitKat. The greatest incentive to foray into owning and living with a Nexus device is knowing that you will get updates as soon as Google makes them available – that is 1 or 2 weeks after it is announced. The rollout of KitKat to the Nexus devices completed just a month after it was announced. Now compare that to Apple which traditionally announces new updates to iOS during the Worldwide Developers Conference which takes place in June but the update only gets pushed out to devices many months later in October. One month versus four months. You decide which one is faster :)

Or heck compare it to non-Google affiliated Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the Sony Xperia Z Ultra – they are only slated to be receiving KitKat in the first quarter of next year! Of course the Google Play Editions of those phones are already receiving the OTAs for their KitKat update but it doesn’t apply to the 99.8% who own the standard variation of those devices.
One odd quirk about KitKat on the Nexus 4 is that it doesn’t include the hyped “Google Experience Launcher” as standard. You will have to make do with the ageing Launcher2 which is the launcher that was introduced way back in late 2011 with the Galaxy Nexus. You can download an app to enable the KitKat launcher which is hiding inside the Google Search app, in fact every device running Android 4.2 onwards can utilise that app to make the KitKat launcher usable.

If you do want to read a full review of Android 4.4 KitKat, I’ve already written an extensive experience review of KitKat last week. As usual, the links are all below.

Value

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At the time of writing, the Nexus 4 has already been superseded by the Nexus 5 and thus is no longer on sale and can only be found on the pre-owned market. I found my personal 8GB Nexus 4 for a pittance of SGD250 or about USD200 and that is the general market value for a Nexus 4 of decent condition. Compared with other 2012 flagships on the pre-owned market, the Nexus 4 is excellent value. The Galaxy S3 for example, it may have more features than the N4 like Smart Stay, Pop up play and the numerous TouchWiz gimmicks, but there is absolutely no competition when it comes down to value, hardware and interface design – the Nexus 4 shits all over the Galaxy S3 in that aspect. The HTC One X is a worthy competitor to the Nexus 4 in the pre-owned market as it is generally sold at around the same price point as a 16GB Nexus 4, ~SGD 280, and with design and performance both matching up to the Nexus 4, it is hard not to recommend it as well… until you consider update support. HTC has a generally bad track record when it comes down to supporting their phones, even their flagships – the Sensation from late 2011 never got Jellybean, whereas Google’s Nexus S from early 2011 received the Jellybean update.

Wait. Stop. I know you’re eyeing the Lumia 520 at its similarly ultra tempting price point of SGD180. Don’t. Cease and desist. The build quality is terrible, the screen is awful, the ecosystem is far weaker than the Play Store (also further handicapped by the 520’s 512MB of RAM not supporting more demanding apps/games) etcetera.

Final Words

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If you’re hunting for a phone to replace your broken phone or wanting to upgrade from an old, unsupported phone to something better but budget is not on your side, a used Nexus 4 is an excellent choice! Or if you’re like me and am a stock Android lover or hate OEM skins like TouchWiz and Sense UI, the Nexus 4 is also an excellent buy instead of a newer Nexus 5. With the Nexus 5 being sold in the United States at USD349 or SGD630 in Singapore, the Nexus 4 really is a bargain! But of course, make sure that the Nexus 4’s glaring lack of 4G LTE and less than desirable battery life isn’t a deal breaker for you, or you’ll be sorely disappointed with your purchase.

Links

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the INTERPORTAL's Android KitKat review