KZObsessed
Member
Damn. *flips table*
Well £12 is still pretty damn cheap, you'll still save a fortune over a 24 month contract. Three have an unlimited plan for £12.90 as well I think.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Nexus 4 |OT| Quality for everyone
- Thread starter Blablurn
- Start date
Damn. *flips table*
Well £12 is still pretty damn cheap, you'll still save a fortune over a 24 month contract. Three have an unlimited plan for £12.90 as well I think.
Damn. *flips table*
Well £12 is still pretty damn cheap, you'll still save a fortune over a 24 month contract. Three have an unlimited plan for £12.90 as well I think.
Yeah they do, you can't tether on either package mind if you're looking to do that.
yeah only Apple products getting above 9 scores should tell you something...
Ninja Scooter
Member
Apple makes things people like?
No you're right everyone should share your opinion so the only logical answer is bias.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
apple makes great well-rounded products with the best ecosystem?
Literally every time the verge puts up a review they're either android fanboys, apple fanboys, or whatever the context calls for.
Unknown Soldier
Member
I'm sure getting paid more had a lot to with it.
"I see something I disagree with, so the problem must be them."
Let's consider the fact that the ideal Android experience of running CM10 or AOKP on an One X or Galaxy S III is not the out of the box experience at all. These reviews are all encompassing the skins that suck ass, and they can't really score the phone for a hypothetical future stock state.
Nexus 4 review was really affected by the lack of LTE. That review calls Android "the most advanced mobile operating system." What an Apple fanboy!
I had a feeling you'd link to those. Very poor comparison and difficult to gauge much of anything from that. Some of the shots are clearly out of focus or not focused in the same spot. Best place to compare is GSM Arena that has a phone comparison tool.
See here.
iPhone 5 vs S3 vs Xperia T
Then there was that batch of Gizmodo tests too.
http://www.androidpit.com/galaxy-s3-vs-iphone-5-which-do-you-think-has-the-best-camera
I don't really need any comparisons because as I've said, I've done my own. I had both of these phones for a day and did pretty extensive shooting with both. I'd have posted my own comparison but just couldn't be bothered.
But I think it's grossly misleading to suggest Apple and Sony are ahead of the curve on the camera front. They're comparable with the others at best. Sony actually falling under par. The only one as I said earlier, leading the charge on this front is Nokia.
The iPhone 5, S3, N4 etc, all use similar BSI sensors. The main differences between them come down to software and processing. In low light for example, the iPhone 5 pushes a higher ISO for brighter low light photo's compared to say, the S3, but at the expense of noise and detail. Which you always lose the higher up the ISO chain you go. The only one's that break this mould are the 902/808 with more advanced and larger sensors.
They deserve those scores.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
you, and that one android website are in the vast minority. As long as you're aware of that, you may think what you will. At least I posted non-affiliated-to-any-OS links.
You also ignored my third link.
I did not ignore your link. I went through all the photo's. It was a hap handed un-scientific comparison, whereas the one I linked to was the opposite (GSM Arena comparison). You're selectively picking out sources, and ignoring the facts.
And what Android website are you talking about? Did you even read my post? How are GSM Arena and Gizmodo Android sites? Lol.
EDIT: With respect to the third link, again, these are not very good comparisons, and add to that, they are only comparing downsized photo's. You need 100% crops to actually gauge proper detail and noise levels.
I live in a major metropolitan area and the only provided with any kind of LTE service is Verizon.
LTE just does not have the penetration it needs to really be on every phone, not to mention the insanely small data caps to have on every plan anyway.
What is the point of LTE, which provides data speeds which are faster than most home connections in the US? What do you need that speed on a handset for?
If you are getting 5-10 MB/s on a 3G network, which you can through almost every provider and is available across 90% of the market, I dont see the lack of LTE on the phone unless you are one of the few people living in a big city which you almost never leave and you have some use for data speeds faster than my home internet connection.
LTE is a vanity feature.
LTE just does not have the penetration it needs to really be on every phone, not to mention the insanely small data caps to have on every plan anyway.
What is the point of LTE, which provides data speeds which are faster than most home connections in the US? What do you need that speed on a handset for?
If you are getting 5-10 MB/s on a 3G network, which you can through almost every provider and is available across 90% of the market, I dont see the lack of LTE on the phone unless you are one of the few people living in a big city which you almost never leave and you have some use for data speeds faster than my home internet connection.
LTE is a vanity feature.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
I'm saying that android website has selectively picked photos where the S3 might have turned out better, but most conclusions on most websites that have done comparisons say the 5 is better. I picked the sources I did because they had the most normal/real life comparison shots to compare from.
Especially my third link, very extensive. And the S3 does win in some shots. But the conclusion at the end is the same as always.
In the Gizmodo test, few shots were taken. All the shots that were taken went to the S3's favour except one, which they posted in their article...
If you're going to compare these phone camera's, at least link to a site that has some 100% zooms or full resolution examples. Anything less is pretty pointless unless your use of the camera extends only to Facebook uploads, Instagram, mainly non cropped web use etc.
Eh, you say that until you use an LTE device. Websites loud instantly. Your apps take half the time to update. Pictures and media are instantly downloaded.
I ran about 5 on my 3G and run around 25 on LTE. The speed difference is very tangible. Links I waited on for 5-10 seconds take 1 or 2 seconds now.
It's not a vanity feature when carriers are moving spectrum from 3G to LTE. This is the future. Sprint for crying out loud will have all their markets on LTE by end of next year. AT&T is aiming for next summer.
Anyways, it stinks that the Nexus 4 doesn't have LTE, but clearly Google didn't want to have to create multiple SKUs.
If most people won't have access to LTE (except through Verizon) until next year, and people outside the US have no access to LTE, it hardly matters to most people the N4 does not have LTE, particularly when Google has better reasons to not include LTE than including it.
Edit: But I agree it sucks for some people just wish they would go to threads about phones with LTE and how they went over their data cap in a week.
The Faceless Master
Member
what reviews are you reading?
Engadget said:
TechCrunch said:
cnet said:
Gizmodo said:
The Verge said:
not on the same level!
Unknown Soldier
Member
Josh?! Is that you?!?!
The Faceless Master
Member
you'd be crazy to NOT leave a tech blog to be a tech editor ABC news!
RoadHazard
Gold Member
Yeah, apps can selectively hide various parts of the UI. Video players typically hide everything to take advantage of the full display area, while the stock Gallery is an example of an app that hides the notification bar but only "dims" the navigation bar:
I am a big user of android [same as Josh], but saying that Apple is not producing smartphones that are awesomely made and that they dont have best application ecosystem is insane. Android is catching up, and I belive that SGS4 / Nexus 5 will surely outpace iPhones in many [if not all] fields.
For me N4 is VERY close to a perfect device [no SD slot is only bad point], and I will get one as soon as I can find out how can I import one bought from Play Store.
Have I read correctly that the Nexus 4 does not have the stock Android browser installed, and instead uses Chrome as its default (and only) browser?
If so...that is very bad. Chrome is still not as smooth and is missing some features, when compared to the stock Android browser. Not happy with that move unless Google starts putting its full weight behind optimizing Chrome for Android (and ensuring better feature parity).
If so...that is very bad. Chrome is still not as smooth and is missing some features, when compared to the stock Android browser. Not happy with that move unless Google starts putting its full weight behind optimizing Chrome for Android (and ensuring better feature parity).
EightBitNate
Member
Firefox is pretty sweet, though.
The Faceless Master
Member
you can get the stock AOSP browser and install it yourself if you want, though i agree that Google should try to get Chrome for Android at update parity with Chrome on other platforms.
spindoctor
Member
Come on, it's an unlocked Android device. You can install whatever you want, including the stock browser apk if you want it.
Ollie Pooch
In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Firefox is good but I have really annoying issues when posting to GAF on it, same as Chrome. In fact the only browser I've used without huge text entry problems is Dolphin.
dr3upmushroom
Banned
I felt really stupid today, I've been wondering why everyone says this is a great deal when it's more than a base iPhone, but a coworker explained to me that this is $300 with no contract, which is indeed pretty insane.
How cheap of a plan can I get in California? Won't you get locked into an expensive contract anyway to get service, or do some carriers have cheap month-to-month plans with data.
How cheap of a plan can I get in California? Won't you get locked into an expensive contract anyway to get service, or do some carriers have cheap month-to-month plans with data.
fluffydelusions
Member
T-Mobile pre paid month to month no contract is the answer. Some people are saying there is some $30 a month deal but I'm not sure where. For me it's $50 unlimited everything
The Faceless Master
Member
T-Mobile has some cheap prepaid plans and there are also several MVNO carriers like Straight Talk that resell prepaid monthly services that run on AT&T or T-Mobile's network.
There's a $30 a month plan that 100 minutes, unlimited text & data.
Understood, but do you not think it is an odd choice to make Chrome the current default? As far as I know you can't downloaded the stock browser form the Play Store, but you can do so with Chrome. It just seems like a counterproductive choice at the moment - 'let's showcase an inferior browser on our newly flagship-branded phone!'
I suppose the Nexus phones have more so been for tech enthusiasts, so seeking and installing an off-market apk is about to most as easy as checking your email, but you would think Google would hold off on showcasing Chrome front and center on Android until it is a little more fully baked. Frankly, I think it is a good idea for them to merge the two browsers in the future (i.e. Chrome becomes the default and the stock Browser ceases to exist), but just not now with Chrome current state. Perhaps that will be a 5.0 improvement.
fluffydelusions
Member
Oh cool I should do that one then since I basically just text and use data..rarely use the phone
marathonfool
Member
No LTE is not a big concern for me. I don't stream anything and don't plan on uploading or downloading files, images, videos.
Nexus 4 seems like the perfect phone except for the suspect battery life. Hopefully the battery life is a software issue.
Nexus 4 seems like the perfect phone except for the suspect battery life. Hopefully the battery life is a software issue.
Camera:
Manufacturer: Sony
Image SIze: Diagonal 4.60 mm (Type 1/4.0)
Max. Image Resolution: 3296 × 2512 (approx. 8.28M pixels)
Max. Video Resolution: 1080p @ 30fps (720p @ 60fps)
Sensor: 1/3.2" Back-Side Illuminated
Lens: LG 5 Element lens
Aperture: f/2.4
Flash: Single LED
Unit Cell Size: 1.12mµ
Focal Length: 5mm
On-chip signal processing: Dot defect compensation, Noise reduction
Manufacturer: Sony
Image SIze: Diagonal 4.60 mm (Type 1/4.0)
Max. Image Resolution: 3296 × 2512 (approx. 8.28M pixels)
Max. Video Resolution: 1080p @ 30fps (720p @ 60fps)
Sensor: 1/3.2" Back-Side Illuminated
Lens: LG 5 Element lens
Aperture: f/2.4
Flash: Single LED
Unit Cell Size: 1.12mµ
Focal Length: 5mm
On-chip signal processing: Dot defect compensation, Noise reduction
Unknown Soldier
Member
I don't get the people who think you can fix active battery life with software. That Anandtech benchmark specifically tests battery life when the phone is running flat out, loading web pages over and over again with the screen on. You can't make the hardware use less power when it's running at maximum power draw. You can fix idle battery life if there's something messed up in the OS which prevents it from going into Deep Sleep, a common cause of Android battery drain a few years ago. But if you think a software fix can improve battery drain when the phone is actually being used, you're delusional. People said that when the Galaxy Nexus came along too, and amazingly enough, nothing ever happened and the only way to 'fix' battery life on the Gnex was to get of those hilariously gigantic 3,500 mAh battery packs for it that made the phone look like an HTC Thunderbolt with it's extended battery.
you can make some apps to consume less power. maybe google will find a way to run their next android os less battery efficiency, similar to project butter.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Well this is the stock Android browser we're talking about with that Anandtech bench. So, good luck with that.
Well, I am not *that* well versed in this topic, but "full load" actually depends on a lot of things. Is the thread doing floating point math? Flipping through random op-codes? Doing IO?
RoadHazard
Gold Member
Yeah, it's a shame. I like a lot of things about Chrome for Android (especially the syncing with the desktop version), but it's just so much less smooth than the stock browser. Chrome should become the default Android browser, absolutely, but they really should have fixed its performance before making that change. The browser is arguably one of the most important apps on a smartphone, and Google allowing theirs to remain this unoptimized just looks bad. Why no Project Butter love for Chrome?
Google's more resilient to releasing "beta" apps because the general population is more accepting of it from Google, unfortunately. That being said, there are ways to sideload the OG browser...
Unknown Soldier
Member
The Android browser is a good test case for heavy load if you constantly reload pages and don't let it idle by just sitting there displaying a loaded page. It will hit the CPU hard to render the page and scroll, it uses the GPU for hardware-accelerated overlay (page display), it will use RAM extensively, and it will do I/O for caching the page not being shown. And of course during all this the screen is on. So really battery life while browsing is a good overall test of battery life for a mobile device, and it's something most people will do all the time on their smartphones so it's a useful test as well.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-10-review?all=true
lol @ all the android fans butt hurt over the N4 and N10 reviews
Unknown Soldier
Member
Irrelevant unless the site specifies what the phone was DOING during that time.
GAF, tell me about Google Now on phones. On my N7 it's interesting, but used mostly for sports scores. Is it actually useful when it has all the extra location data? I don't really need a new phone at all, but Google Now is interesting enough that it might push me to get one of these and make a quick buck on my IP5.
Yeah, you're right... I think engadget and gsm arena test battery life by looping an HD video @ "50% brightness" while anand keeps the CPU under heavy workload with all screens at 200 nits, but aren't most of anand's tests javascript heavy? So browser optimization does come into play no?
Unknown Soldier
Member
The thing is that video playback is offloaded on these devices to a domain in the SoC which is just for that. So if they are looping HD video, they aren't stressing the CPU or GPU, and they certainly aren't using the 3G/4G network or WiFi. So video playback is actually a poor test of general use battery life these days. It's a good test of how long your phone can play video before dying though.
As for your other question: sort of? Browser optimization in Anand's test comes into play in terms of how fast the page draws. This is fine as long as Anand's test keeps reloading pages without pausing, so overall CPU usage is still constantly maxed out. The stock browser itself doesn't contain any specific optimizations for the specific SoC AFAIK, the JS engine is the same and that's native code anyways. As for the rest of the browser, I think Samsung likes to tinker with the stock browser, other OEMs pretty much don't.
Mr.Squirrel
Tom
Supposedly HSPA+42 can give you around 20mbps DL speeds. My old phone I could get maybe 6 or 7, so if the N4 can give me that I'd buy happy.
GoldenEye 007
Member
HSPA+ is up to 42Mb. Even at half that speed or less, that is more than enough for very capable browsing and probably most if not all browsing/multimedia applications.
My area only has hspa21 and I've never seen it go faster then 5MB. On the other hand, both Verizon and AT&T have LTE setup already.
So yeah... it's not a great situation for everybody. All that said, I'm still getting the Nexus 4 bc I desperately need a new phone. I figure, since its unlocked, I can always sell it next year and buy whatever the new LTE hotness is.