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Nexus 4 |OT| Quality for everyone

J

JLG-

Member
So i finally switched over to Tmobile and got my Nexus 4 up and running.. (this is my first smartphone) and i'm having problems with my speeds. They are terrible at home.
The little meter at the top fluctuates from either 1 bar to 2 bars with the little "H" above.

I checked the coverage map on tmobile's website and my address shows up as being in a "Very strong" 4g coverage area. However running speed test i'm only getting around 500kbps - 1041 kbps.. Is there anything i can do to improve this? Or what is causing this? And it's not just my phone, my entire family just switched over to smartphones and all are having the same problem.

Is this just a case of living in a bad coverage area even though the map says otherwise? I'm in Los Angeles County if that makes any difference.
 
G

GoldenEye 007

Member
JLG- said:
So i finally switched over to Tmobile and got my Nexus 4 up and running.. (this is my first smartphone) and i'm having problems with my speeds. They are terrible at home.
The little meter at the top fluctuates from either 1 bar to 2 bars with the little "H" above.

I checked the coverage map on tmobile's website and my address shows up as being in a "Very strong" 4g coverage area. However running speed test i'm only getting around 500kbps - 1041 kbps.. Is there anything i can do to improve this? Or what is causing this? And it's not just my phone, my entire family just switched over to smartphones and all are having the same problem.

Is this just a case of living in a bad coverage area even though the map says otherwise? I'm in Los Angeles County if that makes any difference.
Click to expand...
Are you trying to run the test outside? TMo is usually good in major cities. But buildings sometimes present problems.
 
D

DagsJT

Member
Should be getting a Nexus 4 tomorrow. I'm usually careful with my phones and don't bother with cases but keep reading about how easy it is to crack the case of the N4.

Is there a common suggestion on what cases are the best that are available in the UK? The Poetic bumper sounds like it could be useful but that obviously don't protect the back.

I currently use a Lumia 800 and that comes with a rubbery kind of casing that stretches around the phone, protecting the back and sides and that works really well.

Edit: Did a bit of reading back and it seems the Ringe Fusion and Slim's are decent, I'll look into those.
 
D

drugstore_cowboy

Member
Ringke Fusion is a decent case, got mine from Amazon for £11.

Adds a little bulk and the power button gets pressed more by mistake but it's worth the money imo.
 
M

meow

Member
The white nexus 4 is (FINALLY) up on the play store! and it looks like all phones now ship with a bumper as a gift with purchase. :)
 
P

PriitV

Member
nexusae0_unnamed-1_thumb28.png

The clock says 4:23.. hmm
 
T

TerminalDogma

Member
Wow and I just ordered the black one on Monday. Kind of tempted to see if Google will let me switch em.

Regardless of that though, I just got myself a Nexus 4! I've had a Droid 2 since it came out, but to be honest I never really used it for anything except calls, texts, and doing quick Google searches. Any advice/recommendations if I wanna get something more out of my Nexus, GAF? Any must have apps that I should download immediately?
 
T

TerminalDogma

Member
Thanks for the rec Greyface. I think I've spent most of today going down the list of the gaf channel and just checking out the various apps, ha. Found some cool things already.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
Is buying a Nexus 4 at this point in time worth it? Thinking of switching carriers and they're offering it for $200 after their "tab" thing ($350 without).
 
L

Liquidus

Aggressively Stupid
Zombie James said:
Is buying a Nexus 4 at this point in time worth it? Thinking of switching carriers and they're offering it for $200 after their "tab" thing ($350 without).
Click to expand...

It is. The performance for the price of this phone can't be beat. It's unlocked and Nexus devices always have great support.

If you're going with Koodo PM me and I can get you another $25 off your Tab.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
The Faceless Master said:
will you be upset if they release a new Nexus in December?

No? get one.
Click to expand...

I'll be upgrading from a Samsung Vibrant so anything would be a massive leap right now.

Liquidus said:
It is. The performance for the price of this phone can't be beat. It's unlocked and Nexus devices always have great support.

If you're going with Koodo PM me and I can get you another $25 off your Tab.
Click to expand...

Thanks, PM sent.
 
H

Husker86

Member
Screenshot

Anyone know why this is happening? Free space in the graph is more than what it says is available. Adding up the separate categories shows I should have like 8 gig available, but it says I have much less.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
After a less-than-amazing but still ok experience with my Xperia S and switching back to iPhone, I'm now ready to try out a Nexus 4 using the proceeds from selling an old 3DS and the Xperia. Android experience was too good (despite the bugs on that phone) for me to give up, yet. LTE isn't important.

Has the battery life on stock generally been good for most people? I expect it not to last ages due to the giant screen, but first impressions weren't good. Did an update fix it up a bit? Also - is a case essential? Seems pretty easy to break...
 
L

Liquidus

Aggressively Stupid
I usually get at least 4.5 to 5 hours of screen time. Last 3 charges I got 5.5 hours.

It all depends on how you use it. If you constantly stream off of HSPA you're going to use more battery power.

In terms of it breaking easily. I dropped my phone from a foot and a half to two feet onto tile and nothing happened. I do have a $2 TPU S Line case on it though. It's not that fragile. Just don't thrown it around.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Ok, thanks - yeah i'm mostly on Wifi so hopefully won't be too much of an issue.

I did read the screen is a little blue/washed out - it can be calibrated to adjust the curves, right?

Hopefully I can turf this Xperia S pretty quick. JB update was disappointing - back to laggy and jerky within a day of installing it.
 
C

catmincer

Member
Xperia S is the worst phone I ever had. I couldn't wait for the jb update so I flicked it. Sad to see even after that it still sucks.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
catmincer said:
Xperia S is the worst phone I ever had. I couldn't wait for the jb update so I flicked it. Sad to see even after that it still sucks.
Click to expand...
What phone do you use now? N4?

They certainly improved it over ICS on the S but that's not really saying much.

I enjoyed using it for the time I was using it on ICS - but it started bugging out after about 6 months, doing all this random shit. Wasn't sure if that's just Android or that particular phone. It drove me nuts. I've tried countless custom ROMs for it since - ICS, JB 4.1, JB 4.2.2, they're all fine for a day then get bogged down with normal use. It's insane that this old 4S i picked up as a replacement is still faster, smoother, more stable and more responsive in every single way. Opening the messaging app would take ages, just weird hitches in the menus/app drawer, slow reloading of browser, etc. Horrible. It locked up constantly. Then Sony basically forgot about it!

I'm scared I'll go to the nexus 4 and have the same issues, actually - but for that price I'm willing to give it a go.
 
L

Liquidus

Aggressively Stupid
Haven't had any bugs or slowdowns with my N4s. My Galaxy S4 was riddled with slowdowns right out of the box. That ugly thing ate up Ram like no tomorrow (good old Touchwiz) and that ugly screen made me want to vomit.

Anyways back to the N4. No issues software wise whatsoever. Occasionally the app drawer might stutter once but that's it.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Liquidus said:
Haven't had any bugs or slowdowns with my N4s. My Galaxy S4 was riddled with slowdowns right out of the box. That ugly thing ate up Ram like no tomorrow (good old Touchwiz) and that ugly screen made me want to vomit.

Anyways back to the N4. No issues software wise whatsoever. Occasionally the app drawer might stutter once but that's it.
Click to expand...
Great, what I want to hear :) How is the memory management? I was using a One X for a while and it was a disaster - would reload the browser/gmail/other apps constantly if you switched to another app and you'd lose progress if you were typing an email, stuff like that. Assuming that was some HTC crap and not Android related. I guess this one has 2gb of RAM so would probably be improved?

Eugh, just preparing this XS (sold it!) seems the JB update made it even worse - bugs all over the place, really sloppy testing by Sony.
 
L

Liquidus

Aggressively Stupid
The reloading of apps rarely happens from my experience. Usually only 500MB of Ram is used. My S4 had 600MB left out of 2GB out of the box. I doubt you have to worry about losing a half written email when you quick switch to another app. I can't recall that ever happening to me on this phone.

I feel the N4 is extremely smooth.

It's hard to give definitive answers to some subjects as everyone uses different apps in different ways with different settings. For me I love the way this phone operates. I can have Chrome, YouTube, Reddit and Netflix open and can easily switch between the apps without issue.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Liquidus said:
The reloading of apps rarely happens from my experience. Usually only 500MB of Ram is used. My S4 had 600MB left out of 2GB out of the box. I doubt you have to worry about losing a half written email when you quick switch to another app. I can't recall that ever happening to me on this phone.

I feel the N4 is extremely smooth.

It's hard to give definitive answers to some subjects as everyone uses different apps in different ways with different settings. For me I love the way this phone operates. I can have Chrome, YouTube, Reddit and Netflix open and can easily switch between the apps without issue.
Click to expand...
Yeah, totally understand - I appreciate your answers! Reading reviews give you the tech sorta stuff but hard to find real good impressions of day to day usage and little niggly stuff. Most are super positive, though. Will check it out - thanks!
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
I don't honestly remember the last time I deliberately closed an app on this thing so it wouldn't take up memory anymore. On my old Galaxy (the small one though) I did that all the time.

Everytime I open the active app drawer, I'm surpised how much stuff there's still running :)

Oh, and: normal use (phone, lots of Whatsapp, Internet every now and then, some navigation) and I get through 1-2 days easily.

Launch device, still love the phone :)
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Ah, nice.

Definitely sounds and looks super fast and not really a phone to suffer from lag. My One X was insanely fast but that memory issue just ruined the phone. The Xperia has always lagged, it was never that responsive at all.
 
C

catmincer

Member
Ollie Pooch said:
What phone do you use now? N4?

They certainly improved it over ICS on the S but that's not really saying much.

I enjoyed using it for the time I was using it on ICS - but it started bugging out after about 6 months, doing all this random shit. Wasn't sure if that's just Android or that particular phone. It drove me nuts. I've tried countless custom ROMs for it since - ICS, JB 4.1, JB 4.2.2, they're all fine for a day then get bogged down with normal use. It's insane that this old 4S i picked up as a replacement is still faster, smoother, more stable and more responsive in every single way. Opening the messaging app would take ages, just weird hitches in the menus/app drawer, slow reloading of browser, etc. Horrible. It locked up constantly. Then Sony basically forgot about it!

I'm scared I'll go to the nexus 4 and have the same issues, actually - but for that price I'm willing to give it a go.
Click to expand...

HTC one. Did have an n4 but broke it lol. If it is any help while the one is more responsive, the n4 wasn't bad at all. The only way the s was usable was on gingerbread.... I would never touch a Sony mobile again due to this.
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
catmincer said:
HTC one. Did have an n4 but broke it lol. If it is any help while the one is more responsive, the n4 wasn't bad at all. The only way the s was usable was on gingerbread.... I would never touch a Sony mobile again due to this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wouldn't touch a Sony phone again, and that kinda sucks considering how enthusiastic I used to be about it. It started off nicely, then had a few slowdowns with ICS, now JB is hardly better and full of bugs. They clearly rushed the release out to shut everyone up and have no intention of supporting it further. Flagship my ass! Terrible company. Felt so nice to put that sucker in the mailbox this afternoon.

I'd always choose something like the stock One, but not at that price :p Can't risk another disaster. Haha.
 
A

Angst

Member
Ollie Pooch said:
Ok, thanks - yeah i'm mostly on Wifi so hopefully won't be too much of an issue.

I did read the screen is a little blue/washed out - it can be calibrated to adjust the curves, right?

Hopefully I can turf this Xperia S pretty quick. JB update was disappointing - back to laggy and jerky within a day of installing it.
Click to expand...

It is a bit washed out IMO. Using the recommended values in Franco Kernel made everything so much better though. You need to be rooted to install Franco Kernel.
 
Nicktendo86

Nicktendo86

Member
Angst said:
It is a bit washed out IMO. Using the recommended values in Franco Kernel made everything so much better though. You need to be rooted to install Franco Kernel.
Click to expand...
I found next to the HTC one (which I consider the gold standard of smartphone screens) the n4 is a little more blue on whites. I like that actually as I find, to my eyes, it makes whites whiter than a warm screen. I don't really see the washed out colours others mention, to me it looks nice and accurate. I am used to my galaxy nexus though so anything next to this pos is God like.
 
B

Beowulf28

Member
So I'm looking to get a nexus 4 and I'm coming from WP8, I wanted to know if there is anything similar to the people hub on android (app or within the OS)? Specifically syncing my facebook friendlist and contacts into one phonebook and also automatically syncing contact pictures.
 
P

PriitV

Member
Beowulf28 said:
So I'm looking to get a nexus 4 and I'm coming from WP8, I wanted to know if there is anything similar to the people hub on android (app or within the OS)? Specifically syncing my facebook friendlist and contacts into one phonebook and also automatically syncing contact pictures.
Click to expand...

HaxSync from the Play Store is something that you'd like.
 
O

OmegaFax

Member
Anyone order a 16gb white Nexus 4 in the US that actually shipped and get a "Return to Sender Requested" update in their UPS tracking info? The 16gb white Nexus 4 shows up as unavailable in the Google Play store now too.
 
T

Toge

Member
Beowulf28 said:
So I'm looking to get a nexus 4 and I'm coming from WP8, I wanted to know if there is anything similar to the people hub on android (app or within the OS)? Specifically syncing my facebook friendlist and contacts into one phonebook and also automatically syncing contact pictures.
Click to expand...
Why are you coming from wp8?
 
Nicktendo86

Nicktendo86

Member
So, anyone notice the digitalizer on their phone? My brother pointed it out on his phone to me and it is really noticeable, especially when the screen is off. Weird as I have never heard it mentioned anywhere else!
 
G

Groof

Junior Member
Nicktendo86 said:
So, anyone notice the digitalizer on their phone? My brother pointed it out on his phone to me and it is really noticeable, especially when the screen is off. Weird as I have never heard it mentioned anywhere else!
Click to expand...
Yeah it's super noticeable in sunlight. But I always assumed that was because of the no gap technology thing.
 
Nicktendo86

Nicktendo86

Member
Groof said:
Yeah it's super noticeable in sunlight. But I always assumed that was because of the no gap technology thing.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I assumed, I might check my GF's iPhone 5 later, that has a similar zero gap thing as well I think. The N7 does also I think, will be intersting to compare them.

Problem is once I saw it on thr N4 I found it hard to unsee, even when the screen was on. That sort of thing really brings out my OCD!
 
G

Groof

Junior Member
Nicktendo86 said:
Yeah that's what I assumed, I might check my GF's iPhone 5 later, that has a similar zero gap thing as well I think. The N7 does also I think, will be intersting to compare them.

Problem is once I saw it on thr N4 I found it hard to unsee, even when the screen was on. That sort of thing really brings out my OCD!
Click to expand...

I feel ya man, I can't stop staring at it too when I'm outside. But I've sorta learned to cope and have fun with it instead... if that makes sense.
 
Nicktendo86

Nicktendo86

Member
Groof said:
I feel ya man, I can't stop staring at it too when I'm outside. But I've sorta learned to cope and have fun with it instead... if that makes sense.
Click to expand...

Yep I getcha. It is at least SUPPOSED to be like that so best to not worry and enjoy the phone.
 
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