LG Google Nexus 4

[TameRacingDriver]

ZesPak said:

TRD: PHONE IS PHUCKED, NO SIGNAL OVER 3G, YET WORKS ON WIFI.

TRD, a couple of days and firmwares later: Sorry, was just over my limit, please ignore.

Not quite that simple matey boy

The internet worked, it's push email that didn't.

[TameRacingDriver]

RacingBlue said:

Holy st! It's back in stock...

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/nexus-4-back-in-st...

Ah bugger, just when I was thinking of selling mine too.

Oh well, bye bye resale value.

[TameRacingDriver]

Dave^ said:

Have you got a separate profiles app on there? Llama, etc?

Also, isn't there a setting for "Night Time" so the phone doesn't ring so loud between certain hours?

I never noticed the "Profile" option when it was standard, is it there as standard? I only noticed that since I used Cyanogen.

[TameRacingDriver]

Dave^ said:

Not sure, I think it has... But I could be getting

I'm sure mine only had 'Power Off', Airplane Mode and the three buttons at the bottom for toggling silent / vibration / sound when standard.

[TameRacingDriver]

ZesPak said:

aren't these the options that appear when holding the power button for a second?

Yep, and on my Cyanogen based N4 it has two new options (Profile and Reboot). I'd never seen the Profile option when it was stock, so am wondering if it was a Cyanogen feature.

[TameRacingDriver]

I'm quite happy with it but in some ways I prefer the galaxy note but I think I'm going to sell both and get an xperia Z

[TameRacingDriver]

I'll be saying good bye to my Nexus 4 I think.

As well as hastily pre-ordering the Xperia Z, I have just got my Note 2 back, and I have to say despite the lack of Vanilla Android I prefer it overall to the Nexus 4.

I found the N4 a little underwhelming in the end.

• Battery life poor
• Lack of storage options
• Camera mediocre
• Sound quality not great

The Galaxy Nexus I had beforehand was almost as good despite being a year old. The camera is better on the N4 than the GNex but the GNex had better sound quality and the rest was much of a muchness.

In the end though, considering some of the bugs 4.2 has in it, I don't really feel like Vanilla Android is really as important to me as I once felt it was.

Very nice for the money though IMO, but ultimately, I think they are cheaper than some of the competition for a reason.

[TameRacingDriver]

I find it quite interesting to read the opinions of those who have become accustomed to none vanilla phones when using the now fashionable nexus devices, which have always been about their minimalism.

I've always traditionally been a fan of this minimalistic approach but having used the Note for a few days I'm coming to quite like some of the little touches even if some of their UI design is a bit questionable in places.

I think a lot of people will bemoan the relative lack of features on the nexus even though there is software available to do any job, will be interesting to see if we see a shift back to phones with more functionality in the future.

[TameRacingDriver]

JackDaniels said:

I have to ask though with people commenting on battery life (And this is not meant as a dig btw) but how do you burn through so much in a day, do you use it for work?

The battery life in isolation, depending on how you use it, will seem OK.

For me personally, I DO use my phone for work. It's like having a pocket laptop to me, and it gets used HEAVILY.

With most phones, such as the Nexus 4 and Galaxy Nexus, this either meant having it plugged in at any available opportunity, or planning my use carefully, whilst micromanaging settings (why do you think so many have power widgets on the screen at all times?)

With the Note 2 I'm using now, the battery life is epic in comparison. I can now get through a heavy days use without ever giving any of the above a second thought.

You DO get used to having relatively little battery life, but its so much nicer to not have to worry about any of that. It's also nice that you could potentially get 3 days of light use out of it too.

That said, the N4 had quite good battery life when using at home on Wifi, but for me, when using it on 3G it tended to get hammered.

[TameRacingDriver]

oldnewbie said:

Only issue I may have, some recipients have said the volume is very low on calls, may just be me talking softly, anyone else experienced this?

Shouldn't be... mine was great on all respects. As smartphones go, I'd rank the Nexus 4 up there with the best for call quality IME.

[TameRacingDriver]

Thought that would be common sense

But I guess that means when you turned off a Nokia, it wasn't really off at all.

[TameRacingDriver]

Dave^ said:

The way I see it (rightly or wrongly) is that the Alarm Clock on Android phones is an app.... apps can't run if the phone's not on...

Not sure on dumbphones though, but most do lose time/date if they're left off for long enough or if you remove the battery. So maybe they're in more of a deep-sleep rather than switched off...

Pretty much how I saw it too.

[TameRacingDriver]

probedb said:

I have to say I'm happy with battery life. The phone is used more and I now have data enabled during the day which I never did with my S2. It's lasting about twice as long as the S2 ever did.

The battery life was virtually exactly the same on my Nexus 4 as it was on my Galaxy S2, so either your S2 was borked or you have a freakishly good Nexus 4.

[TameRacingDriver]

probedb said:

Neither are borked. Two of my mates both have Nexus 4s and are also happy/impressed with the battery life. Depends entirely on your usage patterns of course

My usage patterns are largely the same as they ever were, and both the Nexus 4 and SGS2 managed about 3 hours screen on time over the course of a 16 hour day by which time they were both pretty much spent.

You said the Nexus 4 had double the battery life. I am merely disagreeing.

The Nexus 4 battery life is nothing better than average in the Android world. If you are happy with that, then great

[TameRacingDriver]

A 50" Plasma TV probably has better battery life than almost any HTC though, TBQH!

[TameRacingDriver]

bhstewie said:

I was a little surprised this is on by default since nothing I know of uses it.

Does anyone know how much difference having GPS and location tracking enabled has on battery life in general use i.e. when you're NOT using maps or GPS?

Shouldn't affect it much at all UNLESS you have a rogue app that runs in the background that keeps the GPS locked on; for example, like I have done a couple of times, forgot to fully quit an app such as Endomondo (which tracks your exercise on a map while you're doing it) or other navigation app. Even seemingly innocent stuff like a weather widget could do it as well.

[TameRacingDriver]

TotalControl said:

I honestly charged my battery 2 days ago at 9pm. Almost 48 hours later and it's just hit 30%. In my eyes that's fantastic considering I've been using it a fair amount.

How much screen on time? Even with a freshly reset N4 with nothing installed or syncing, I wouldn't get close to 2 days use out of it having used it a "fair bit".

I've noticed claims of mobile phone battery life is starting to resemble MPG pub talk...

[TameRacingDriver]

TotalControl said:

I've charged it since so can't give you a screenshot but it came to just short of 4 hours at the time. It may have been due to me not using too many demanding apps.

Sounds about right, in fairness. I'll let you off

I've since learned 4.2.2 if that's what you're on is improving battery life in standby which would certainly help you to get a bit more time out of it (mine used to drain circa 6% on the way to work - 1 hour journey in standby, or 3% without "Google Now" enabled).

[TameRacingDriver]

Pr1964 said:

Google have released 4.2.2 and it still crashes complete garbage on a separate note much like the new London times app on ipad which is another piece of tech garbage .

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/has-jelly-bean-4-2...

IMHO Android much overrated having had and returned three android handsets now.

My Windows8 Lumia 820 hasn't restarted or crashed once and it's battery lasts a day of heavy use unlike the nexus 4 which lasted 1/2 a day at most. I tend to dislike Microsoft but they've got WP8 spot on.

TBH my old Nexus 4 never crashed in the fashion referred to in that article. The Lumia 920 I had restarted randomly every day until I sent it back for replacement. Apparently an update was in the pipeline to fix that problem, however, many reported it didn't fix it, and strangely, when I had it replaced, its replacement was absolutely fine.

I'd suggest that anyone blaming the OS version for faults like this, especially when others are not having any problems, is clutching at straws. It will almost certainly be a defective handset.

[TameRacingDriver]

trooperiziz said:

It won't have been a breeze that knocked it off, it will have been the glass back being extra slippy. Any micro-vibrations will move it around.
Try it, put your nexus 4 on the edge of a glass coffee table (or something as smooth) and watch it, it'll very very slowly move around.

Mine slid off a wooden desk (with a computer on, which is presumably where the vibrations came from) and ended up scratched! I've never encountered a more slippery phone.