• 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

H

Husker86

Member
Copernicus said:
So I held an N4 the other day, it felt totally bland, maybe it was too quick or ,maybe it was because of the theft detector thing....but I was a bit disappointed.
Click to expand...

Can you give me an example of a phone that doesn't feel bland? I'm not sure I understand blandness of feel.
 
K

kehs

Banned
Husker86 said:
Can you give me an example of a phone that doesn't feel bland? I'm not sure I understand blandness of feel.
Click to expand...


I think it was just the flat slate feel of it, for reference, I love the feel of the nexus s. I know the quality of the plastic is shit, but the ergonomics are great.

Even the razor maxx feels distinct in comparison.
 
H

Husker86

Member
Copernicus said:
I think it was just the flat slate feel of it, for reference, I love the feel of the nexus s. I know the quality of the plastic is shit, but the ergonomics are great.

Even the razor maxx feels distinct in comparison.
Click to expand...
I see. I think I'm more partial to flat backed phones now. I preferred the feel of my Gnex without the extended battery since it made the phone flatter.

You still rocking the Nexus S?
 
K

kehs

Banned
Husker86 said:
I see. I think I'm more partial to flat backed phones now. I preferred the feel of my Gnex without the extended battery since it made the phone flatter.

You still rocking the Nexus S?
Click to expand...

Nexus one actually.

That thing feels sexy and outdated at the same time.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Lol, Coppy keeps going backwards. Soon he'll be using a G1 and saying how sexy the chin is.
 
J

jgkspsx

Member
Got it. It's very nice. The bumper looks and feels like a natural extension of the phone, and I'm reluctant to put a case on it beyond this. Good Lord I had a lot of Android apps bought via various services.

Pros: It is awesome that I can charge it on my Lumia wireless charging stands. After several weeks on Windows Phone, I have to say that Android works as a coherent whole a lot better. It's leagues beyond Gingerbread, which I have on my Nook Color.

Cons: The ear-speaker noise is weird and unpleasant, and intrusive even while making phone calls. The speaker is tinny and mono. The edge of the phone felt very cheap and plasticky without the bumper. The camera is OK. Build and component quality is a step down from the 920.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
android_prototype_550x385.jpg


Pictured: Coppy's phone in six months.
 
R

Ruthless_Barbarian

Member
Andrex said:
Anyone who has used an N4 for a while and previously owned a Galaxy Nexus 4G:

- How big a difference is the battery life?
- How big a loss is not having 4G?
- How big a difference is there in photo quality?
Click to expand...

Battery life is much better, screen uses way less power. Only had it for a couple of days, but I don't end up with under 20% charge by the end of the work day as I used to with the gnex.

Can't comment on photo quality yet, but having HDR will make a difference. Camera responds slightly faster than gnex, less lag when tilting screen.

whitehawk said:
Is there any way to connect a Wii remote or Dualshock 3 over bluetooth without rooting the phone?
Click to expand...

No, but you can do it with an OTG cable. Also, you might want to order this GAMEKLIP
 
R

Ruthless_Barbarian

Member
Husker86 said:
I love the screen on the N4. Not only the actual display, but the feel of sliding my thumb off the curved edge when swiping is so much nicer than a rough edge/frame. The display itself is much more consistent throughout; I could see banding on certain colors from the day I got the GNex (though I still liked the screen overall). Also, RGB is better. It took concentration to notice on the 720p screen of the GNex, but pentile IS noticeable and I don't believe anyone who says it isn't! And the nav bar/notification bar doesn't have discoloring like the GNex gets after displaying essentially straight black for so long.

I'm pretty sure they are just about the same width, but the N4 feels more solid, probably because of the glass black. I think the in hand feel is much better. Build quality is great. It was with the iPhone 5 as well but the big difference is the iPhone 5 (and 4/4S) were always somewhat uncomfortable for me because they have sharpish edges around the whole damn thing. N4 is smooth.

One thing that still impresses me is the speed. The N4 is just so damn quick. I used my GNex for a few days while waiting for my N4 and the difference in speed is huge. It starts up as fast or maybe even faster than an iPhone 5 which is something I've never seen an Android phone do.
Click to expand...

True on all counts. Swyping and scrolling is so much smoother. Project butter indeed!

N4 feels much bigger than the gnex, even though it's not. Gnex apps drawer displays 20 apps per page while the N4 does 25, so that makes it look bigger as well. Chrome and chrome beta seem to work much faster on the N4.

I played GTA VC on N4 with the PS3 controller for 3 hours, battery used was 20%. On the gnex it used to eat up double that much.

Also, I don't find the phone slippery at all. I've got big hands so no trouble in using it with one hand.
 
J

jgkspsx

Member
jgkspsx said:
Pros: It is awesome that I can charge it on my Lumia wireless charging stands.
Click to expand...
Boooooo. It sort of charges, but not enough. It keeps going between "charging" and "not charging" like the Palm devices would when they weren't on the touchstone quite right. That's a bummer. This site claims it overheats, but I didn't really notice that myself. Add Qi to the pile of standards that aren't really standards.
 
H

Husker86

Member
Just received my cheap wet application back protector...I can finally set the phone down and assume it will stay where I put it!
 
D

DXPett1

Member
Bufbaf said:
Talking about notes, why doesn't a freaking 2013 smartphone have an integrated notebook? Do I really have to put up with some random app for that? DO I?!

If yes, which one is quick to use and not overblown cloud shit?
Click to expand...

Tasks

Pure and simple. I recommend everyone check this app out
 
L

Liquidus

Aggressively Stupid
God damn this phone is silky. Both the OS and hardware are pretty.

I've been averaging 4 hours of screen time with a lot of games, videos, Reddit, browsing. It's not bad seeing as my Optimus One averaged 5-6 hours display time.
 
J

Jayayess1190

Member
Franco kernel is awesome, now this phone surpasses my HTC Inc in battery life. Almost 5 hours of screen on time today including running Swagbucks videos for a little bit. Sitting at 22% battery left for today right now.
 
B

BomberMouse

Member
After almost a week using this phone, it's good to see how far Android has come. Still, my god this OS is still cluttered, ugly and a mess to use. It's a million times better than the last time I used it (2.2) but it's still way way behind iOS in easo of use. Even some basic things are really contrieved.
 
C

cube444

Member
Need your help guys. About a week ago I noticed that whenever I send an MMS (usually pics) that it just sorta hangs there and shows it as "sending" with the intended recipient getting it the next day. Morever, people have sent me MMS texts as well (pics and videos) and I'm not getting them either.

I've had the phone since December and this has only recently been happening.

Any ideas?
 
L

lunch

there's ALWAYS ONE
BomberMouse said:
After almost a week using this phone, it's good to see how far Android has come. Still, my god this OS is still cluttered, ugly and a mess to use. It's a million times better than the last time I used it (2.2) but it's still way way behind iOS in easo of use. Even some basic things are really contrieved.
Click to expand...
What in particular is bothering you? I've only used iOS on an iPod Touch, and this is my first smartphone (I previously owned a shitty flip phone and a shitty sliding keyboard phone), and while Android seemed like a complete mess when I played around with a Nexus 7 demo unit in a Staples, once I sat down with an Android device, I really took to the OS, and now with Nova Launcher installed and the labels hidden and amount of apps per screen increased, I'm finding Android to be nearly perfect.
 
B

BomberMouse

Member
lunch said:
What in particular is bothering you? I've only used iOS on an iPod Touch, and this is my first smartphone (I previously owned a shitty flip phone and a shitty sliding keyboard phone), and while Android seemed like a complete mess when I played around with a Nexus 7 demo unit in a Staples, once I sat down with an Android device, I really took to the OS, and now with Nova Launcher installed and the labels hidden and amount of apps per screen increased, I'm finding Android to be nearly perfect.
Click to expand...

Just because the reasons you listed, the first impression is all kinds of wrong. Even something as simple as the settings menu is a mess. The UI is very inconsistent to the point of being almost unusable and relies way too much on iconography instead of simple words. Even first party apps are way better on iOS like GMail and the quality of third party apps leaves a lot to be desired. Don't even get me started on the mess that are the contacts. The Appstore is really bad but the Play store is somehow even worse.

I'm pretty sure once you have personalized it's better and there are some functionalities that I really like installing apps directly through the browser and not having to boot up the abomination that is iTunes ever again. Still, I think the phone is a though sell, as I said it's not easy to use at all.
 
D

dripdripsplash

Member
cube444 said:
Need your help guys. About a week ago I noticed that whenever I send an MMS (usually pics) that it just sorta hangs there and shows it as "sending" with the intended recipient getting it the next day. Morever, people have sent me MMS texts as well (pics and videos) and I'm not getting them either.

I've had the phone since December and this has only recently been happening.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm kinda having the same problem. I've heard that turning off your internet connection and stuff helps but I'm not really sure if that's true. Anyone know the answer to this ?
 
L

lunch

there's ALWAYS ONE
BomberMouse said:
Just because the reasons you listed, the first impression is all kinds of wrong. Even something as simple as the settings menu is a mess. The UI is very inconsistent to the point of being almost unusable and relies way too much on iconography instead of simple words. Even first party apps are way better on iOS like GMail and the quality of third party apps leaves a lot to be desired. Don't even get me started on the mess that are the contacts. The Appstore is really bad but the Play store is somehow even worse.

I'm pretty sure once you have personalized it's better and there are some functionalities that I really like installing apps directly through the browser and not having to boot up the abomination that is iTunes ever again. Still, I think the phone is a though sell, as I said it's not easy to use at all.
Click to expand...
I understand. My experience with the Nexus 7 involved me literally pointing to the ad and asking the sales assistant how I could get the home screen to look like that, and when he showed me the app drawer and widgets, my eyes just rolled back into my head, and the app drawer--a giant list of applications that weren't grouped together in any way--seemed completely overwhelming. I can't say that I've found the settings confusing, although I prefer how they are in iOS, and I agree that while the App Store leaves a lot to be desired, the Play Store, especially the app, is fairly ugly, although I do love that, as you said, I can install an app through the browser and it instantly downloads to my Nexus 4.

Now that I have my Nexus 4, I really like the customization Android allows, but I have to agree that the out of the box experience isn't particularly impressive, and unless somebody has prior knowledge of the OS, I can't imagine that a person playing with a demo unit of a Nexus 4 or Nexus 7 would walk away sold on the device. As it is, I ended up buying a Nexus 7 in spite of my demo experience.
 
E

exYle

Member
lunch said:
I understand. My experience with the Nexus 7 involved me literally pointing to the ad and asking the sales assistant how I could get the home screen to look like that, and when he showed me the app drawer and widgets, my eyes just rolled back into my head, and the app drawer--a giant list of applications that weren't grouped together in any way--seemed completely overwhelming. I can't say that I've found the settings confusing, although I prefer how they are in iOS, and I agree that while the App Store leaves a lot to be desired, the Play Store, especially the app, is fairly ugly, although I do love that, as you said, I can install an app through the browser and it instantly downloads to my Nexus 4.
Click to expand...

...it's...arranged...alphabetically?
 
L

lunch

there's ALWAYS ONE
exYle said:
...it's...arranged...alphabetically?
Click to expand...
Yes, but as somebody unfamiliar with all of the applications I was hoping there would be folders grouping similar applications together, so I could get a sense for what they did. Having things alphabetized is only helpful if you know what you're looking for, and I didn't.
 
C

codswallop

Member
exYle said:
...it's...arranged...alphabetically?
Click to expand...
Arranged, yes, but not grouped. Obviously the five homescreens with their ability to create folders (and put things where you like, and widgets) are intended for this functionality, but I don't think it's that obvious to new users, specifically ones migrating from iOS.

Ultimately it's more configurable, but users coming from iOS seem to frequently ask "how do I make it like my iPhone?".
 
E

exYle

Member
lunch said:
Yes, but as somebody unfamiliar with all of the applications I was hoping there would be folders grouping similar applications together, so I could get a sense for what they did. Having things alphabetized is only helpful if you know what you're looking for, and I didn't.
Click to expand...

Oh, I see.
Yeah, I didn't know 'People' was Contacts for a while.
 
D

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Oh uhh I should have probably mentioned there is a coupon code (val013) for 20% off

EDIT: actually I'm not sure if that works anymore...
 
Bboy AJ

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
BomberMouse said:
After almost a week using this phone, it's good to see how far Android has come. Still, my god this OS is still cluttered, ugly and a mess to use. It's a million times better than the last time I used it (2.2) but it's still way way behind iOS in easo of use. Even some basic things are really contrieved.
Click to expand...

Nope. You're just saying stuff just to say stuff. Android is definitely not way behind in iOS in ease of use. It's just different.
 
Randy Lanzarote

Randy Lanzarote

Member
Aruarian Reflection said:
Which version of franco kernel is recommended for stock? There's like 50 different "r" types on the developer's website. Seems like they're all testing different settings. I don't see a guide to the different versions though...
Click to expand...

I'm using r70,just been released.

If you want a changelog for nightly releases go here - http://minooch.com/franciscofranco/Nexus4/appfiles/nightly-changelog

If you want the changelog for the test versions, you'll have to look through the thread on xda.
 
C

codswallop

Member
Bboy AJ said:
Nope. You're just saying stuff just to say stuff. Android is definitely not way behind in iOS in ease of use. It's just different.
Click to expand...
IMO iOS is way more consistent than Android (been using it since 1.3), and I don't think much of iOS at all.

Android is improving in leaps and bounds, though.
 
C

codswallop

Member
Oh yeah. In comparison it feels outdated now. However for a lot of their customers that's a good thing. If you've jumped from an iPhone 3G with iOS 3 to an iPhone 5 with iOS 6 you aren't likely to be confused.

Android 1.3 to 4.2.1 may as will be a different OS it's so different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Japan Travel |OT| starting out a new journey
Community
12
647
Robot Carnival replied
Kotaku 2024 High/Lowlights plus Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo summary
4
563
Mr Hyde replied
Rog Ally X | Review Thread
Analysis Review
35
4K
amigastar replied
Meta Quest 3 | OT + Review Thread |
Analysis Review 19 20 21 22 23
1K
85K
cyberheater replied
Outcast: A New Beginning | Review Thread + |OT|
|OT| Analysis Review 2
81
8K
SF Kosmo replied
Top Bottom