One more question. If I sideload the gel with the latest ota will my nav bar still be transparent with any other launcher besides gel?
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Nexus 4 |OT| Quality for everyone
- Thread starter Blablurn
- Start date
One more question. If I sideload the gel with the latest ota will my nav bar still be transparent with any other launcher besides gel?
No, the transparency is app specific. But most of the big launchers support it now though.
Nicktendo86
Member
Opens a little quicker and might focus a little faster but other than that not as far as I can see.
Yup, haven't seen many improvements. I would assume, however this is just wishful thinking, that when their promised new camera API is finally finalized, some of it will at least trickle down to the N4 and show some improvements.
That'll probably never happen though.
Running great for me. I've actually seen a steady improvement in battery life as well. If possible, try a factory reset and see if it solves some of your issues. Only if you can/want of course.
Nicktendo86
Member
Same here
RumblingRosco
Member
Does anyone know how to send files via USB from Windows 7 to the N4? Here has what I've tried:
1) Plugging in N4 to my USB 2.0 port; nothing happens.
2) Plugging in N4 to my USB 3.0 port; nothing happens.
3) Enabled developer mode and from there enabled USB Debugging; nothing happens after I plug it in to via USB
I just want to transfer some music to my phone without having to deal with AirDroid or uploading/download through GoogleDrive. Any ideas?
Oh, but it does charge when I plug it in... it just doesn't recognize it as a USB mass storage device.
1) Plugging in N4 to my USB 2.0 port; nothing happens.
2) Plugging in N4 to my USB 3.0 port; nothing happens.
3) Enabled developer mode and from there enabled USB Debugging; nothing happens after I plug it in to via USB
I just want to transfer some music to my phone without having to deal with AirDroid or uploading/download through GoogleDrive. Any ideas?
Oh, but it does charge when I plug it in... it just doesn't recognize it as a USB mass storage device.
The way I've been doing it was Settings -> Storage -> Top Right menu -> USB Computer connection -> Check Media Device (MTP)
It should show up in Windows 7 without issue (used MTP now, not USB mass storage).
What does it say it's "connected as" in the notification pane when plugged in?
BoosterDuck
Banned
Anyone know how the new wallpaper manager works now?
RumblingRosco
Member
Thanks for the help/input. As it turned out, I tried a different USB cable and it worked. I was using a cable that came with a Qi charging unit, but then switched to a "standard" USB cable and it recognized it right away. I had no idea USB cables vary, but whatever, it works now!
Yeah, some cheap USB cables (or cables that come with something that will never need data, like a Qi charger apparently) only have pins for power, not data transfer.
Boggles my mind as I can't image the cost savings is anything significant.
The Faceless Master
Member
Penny x millions = thousands
True...but do you think it's even a penny? But hey, I guess every
fraction of a
When I worked at Best Buy we had "charging cables" in the mobile phone area that didn't do data. They were $15-20. I made sure that I never personally sold any of them. That was before everyone had a smartphone though, so I don't think they carry that anymore.
Taco_Human
Member
Anyone tried rooting on 4.4.2 yet? I've had this phone for over a year now and I think it's time I want to root it. I checked XDA real quick, and theyre old guides.
I'll keep trying google and XDA, but I'm sure there's more people who would like this info.
I'll keep trying google and XDA, but I'm sure there's more people who would like this info.
Rooting a Nexus device is like opening a cupboard, it's super easy. I usually use WugFresh's Nexus Root Toolkit. Easy to use, easy to understand and simplifies the process even further.
Do know though that if you haven't unlocked your bootloader yet you're going to have to wipe your device.
Taco_Human
Member
Nope, never did that. I'm already backing up all my important stuff right now getting ready for the wipe already. Thanks. Would you mind me contacting you again if I have any more questions?
Not at all, just ask away! I might not have all the answers though, but I'll do my best.
Taco_Human
Member
Cool thanks man. Well I installed WugFresh's program. How do I unlock my bootloader now? Does the program have something to do it for me or am I gonna have to do it? Just asking before I spend some time at XDA again.
Edit: yeah that's what the big UNLOCK button does, man am I feeling dumb.
Edit: Phone is currently being wiped. Hope I saved everything I needed. I backed up my bitcoins, and pictures. Hope I'm good.
The screen hasn't changed, it's still in the bootloader screen. ...:/
Edit: yeah that's what the big UNLOCK button does, man am I feeling dumb.
Edit: Phone is currently being wiped. Hope I saved everything I needed. I backed up my bitcoins, and pictures. Hope I'm good.
The screen hasn't changed, it's still in the bootloader screen. ...:/
What's the program saying?
Taco_Human
Member
All done man. I just forced shut it off. I restarted, then I pressed the root button. My phone is rooted. Thanks for the recommendation for WugFresh man. Really worked.
My brothers nexus 4 has been shutting off every couple days and he has to reboot it by holding the power button for 15-20 seconds. He's on the most up to date Ota software and it hasn't been rooted or anyting.
Most he does is Pandora and browse the web/emails. Any idea what this could be? Its still under a year old so I can rma it if needed, but id rather not have to if its a simple fix.
Most he does is Pandora and browse the web/emails. Any idea what this could be? Its still under a year old so I can rma it if needed, but id rather not have to if its a simple fix.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
they are kids and it does have a glass back. Slap a case on it. Otherwise literally anything you can possibly buy today is better than an evo 4g.
Consider getting them a moto G as well. Last years model is still great.
Absolutely.
I still have a Nexus 4 and pick it up every once in a while. It's a great phone and I'd go as far as to say that it has a better in-hand feel than the Nexus 5. I loved the curved glass at the edges. Matias Duarte even bragged about that when it launched, but of course they don't put it in the next Nexus...
Anyway, spec-wise it's a good jump from the Evo 4G LTE, and will be an excellent gift for a kid's (anyone's) first phone.
RumblingRosco
Member
I bought a used Nexus 4 16 GB a little over a year ago as my first smart phone. I still use it to this day and have zero complaints. YouTube, Pandora, some gaming, web browsing/email all work without any issues or slow down. I find the 16 GB slightly restrictive, but I keep tons of photos on my phone that I really need to just back-up elsewhere to clear space.
Taco_Human
Member
Well the only major issue I have with lollipop so far is that I can't sync my contacts. I had to make a copy of my list on google contacts and made a file to export to my phone.
Anytime I try to add a new contact now it doesn't sync with my main Gmail account. It says it will default to a different email address I don't sync any contacts with.
Lame.
Anytime I try to add a new contact now it doesn't sync with my main Gmail account. It says it will default to a different email address I don't sync any contacts with.
Lame.
Yeah. It's been great on my n4 too.
He's getting two for $300. At least that's how I understood it.
I'm still not sure why this is a problem for people. When the Nexus 4 originally came out the value on offer at that price point was unmatched. Yet people were concerned about the camera. It's not a terrible camera anyway, There are phones with better cameras out there, but even then, no phone camera can really replace an actual camera. A proper camera has a much better lens. The tiny lens you get on a phone is not really going to match that, even though they have certainly improved over the years.
RumblingRosco
Member
How is everyone's N4 doing with lollipop (5.0)? Mine is a piece of shit now. Everything I open (Facebook, Chrome, Pandora, Play Music) takes 1-3 seconds longer to open than with KitKat. My camera is nearly useless as it takes me holding it still for minimum of 4-5 seconds after snappingn a pic for the image to actually be taken... Even with HDR off. If I move before that it ends up being blurry. Sometimes when I open an app it just hangs and nothing happens so I have to close it. Tried rebooting but no help there. Never had issues like this pre-Lollipop.
Super bummed. Hoping there's a new patch to resolve some of these issues.
Super bummed. Hoping there's a new patch to resolve some of these issues.
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Factory reset it.
BomberMouse
Member
Agreed, I'm hating 5.0. Phone runs like shit now.
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Factory reset it.
Boom Boom Pow
Banned
So guys,
I just updated my Nexus 4 to Lollipop, and after it had installed and reboot, it's stuck in the continuous bootup screen. any suggestion on how to fix this?
I just updated my Nexus 4 to Lollipop, and after it had installed and reboot, it's stuck in the continuous bootup screen. any suggestion on how to fix this?
RumblingRosco
Member
Any Gaffer still using their Nexus 4? My little 16 GB Nexus 4 seems to be holding its own decently still. Storage had become an issue so I had to clear a lot of cached storage in some apps (Google+ was using 1.4 GB of storage despite me never once opening the damn thing, wtf?) and once a week or so it just seems to randomly shut off, but otherwise, no real issues.
Gonna see if I can ride it out another year or two. Battery life seems acceptable still as I don't really use it a lot anyway. I can get some solid Hearthstone-playing on it without massive lag or slowdown which is nice as well.
I guess my issue is, I can't imagine where I'd upgrade to at this point if I did want to. This phone was insane value back when it launched and I'm not sure if anything has maintained the same power/$ ratio since this (or since the Nexus 5, at least). Admittedly, I don't keep up with phone tech as much these days.
Gonna see if I can ride it out another year or two. Battery life seems acceptable still as I don't really use it a lot anyway. I can get some solid Hearthstone-playing on it without massive lag or slowdown which is nice as well.
I guess my issue is, I can't imagine where I'd upgrade to at this point if I did want to. This phone was insane value back when it launched and I'm not sure if anything has maintained the same power/$ ratio since this (or since the Nexus 5, at least). Admittedly, I don't keep up with phone tech as much these days.
BomberMouse
Member
I'm in the same situation, want to update but nothing offers good value anymore. Maybe the 1+, I'm thinking on going back to an iPhone 6 actually.
Taco_Human
Member
Soka, I'm still using mine.
I've had issues since updating to 5.1 My battery life got cut in half. I average around 2 hours of screen time instead of 4. I also rooted it, but now can't figure out how to get my LTE connection back.
Still a great phone, I just can't use it often now. It dies faster and charges a lot slower to get to full battery now. I don't know if I should change my battery, or hope another google update fixes it.
Recently got fired, so I'm glad I didn't budge on upgrading to a Nexus 6, because I can't afford the payments anymore.
I've had issues since updating to 5.1 My battery life got cut in half. I average around 2 hours of screen time instead of 4. I also rooted it, but now can't figure out how to get my LTE connection back.
Still a great phone, I just can't use it often now. It dies faster and charges a lot slower to get to full battery now. I don't know if I should change my battery, or hope another google update fixes it.
Recently got fired, so I'm glad I didn't budge on upgrading to a Nexus 6, because I can't afford the payments anymore.
Nexus 4 still going strong here. Bought it in February 2013 expecting it to last two years, but the phone was so good that 2 family members bough it in early 2014 when it was released in my country and we're all still using them.
Regarding battery, 5.0 provided worse battery than 4.4, but every subsequent update brought the it back to the expected levels (as far as I remember).
I do have one of the older models Nexus 4 (without the nubs on the back) and my original battery that came with it puffed up to the point that the front screen unglued itself from the chassis. I live in Brazil, Google doesn't provide any kind of warranty on the phone down here and only LG sold it but my phone was imported from the US, so I paid way too much for a battery replacement at an official LG support center, and the fuckers never fully glued the screen back on (but that's ok, if the battery swells up again, there's no chance for screen breakage). No 4G, but it's been working like a champ.
I also have the "random reboot" issue. It started with 5.0 and continued through 5.01, but 5.1 made it much less frequent (it takes weeks now, as opposed to every other day.). From what I gathered, it's all related to the "Android Memory Leak" introduced with 5.0 - Nexus 5 also suffered from it, but since it had more RAM, it took longer to happen. it still happens, specially after long heavy gameplay sessions, but it's bearable.
Only real problems I have with it right now is that, sometimes, it doesn't identify me saying "ok google" to it - I think the Mic Port is super dirty, because it "peeled off" some sort of upper layer around the entirety of the protective band of the phone (like skin peeling off after going to the beach). I think it gunked the mic port, but it works alright (even voice detection) after I speak with it closer to my mouth.
Another serious issue that I have is the well-known power button contact issue, but I won't risk opening it up until it no longer works for real.
Regarding new phones, the main problem I have with them nowadays is that they're all going big, both physically and metaphorically. Fucking huge 5.5 inch phones with 1080p screens, quad core cpus, super expensive internal storage options (with no SD port) and non-user accessible shitty batteries (because they have to power all the useless tech in them and still make them super thin). Everybody is copying the iPhone model. I don't need any of that - Give me sub 5 inch screen and a huge ass battery and I'll be fine.
If I had to buy a new phone today and had money to spend would be the Z3 Compact, but that's based on old research. My roomate recently had to change her phone and I did a ton of research on entry-level phones and the Moto E/G Second Generation line of phones seemed pretty alright. I personally think the Moto G offers a couple of unnecessary things: It has a bigger screen, higher resolution (5.0-inch 720p on the G, 4.5-inch 960 x 540 on the E) and a smaller battery than the Moto E. Only real downgrade of the E are the Cameras (VGA front camera? Really?) and the lack of Flash on back camera. They both have 4G models, both got recently updated to 5.1 (Moto E still rolling out), no custom home screens and have external SD slots. She ended up deciding for the Moto E (it was like 20% cheaper on a crazy sale).
My only fear is that we'll stop getting updates for our good old Nexus 4. 5.1 already took a long ass while to come, and we're totally off the "18 month period" that's now the Google standard. Sure, there's always cyanogenmod, but yeah...
Regarding battery, 5.0 provided worse battery than 4.4, but every subsequent update brought the it back to the expected levels (as far as I remember).
I do have one of the older models Nexus 4 (without the nubs on the back) and my original battery that came with it puffed up to the point that the front screen unglued itself from the chassis. I live in Brazil, Google doesn't provide any kind of warranty on the phone down here and only LG sold it but my phone was imported from the US, so I paid way too much for a battery replacement at an official LG support center, and the fuckers never fully glued the screen back on (but that's ok, if the battery swells up again, there's no chance for screen breakage). No 4G, but it's been working like a champ.
I also have the "random reboot" issue. It started with 5.0 and continued through 5.01, but 5.1 made it much less frequent (it takes weeks now, as opposed to every other day.). From what I gathered, it's all related to the "Android Memory Leak" introduced with 5.0 - Nexus 5 also suffered from it, but since it had more RAM, it took longer to happen. it still happens, specially after long heavy gameplay sessions, but it's bearable.
Only real problems I have with it right now is that, sometimes, it doesn't identify me saying "ok google" to it - I think the Mic Port is super dirty, because it "peeled off" some sort of upper layer around the entirety of the protective band of the phone (like skin peeling off after going to the beach). I think it gunked the mic port, but it works alright (even voice detection) after I speak with it closer to my mouth.
Another serious issue that I have is the well-known power button contact issue, but I won't risk opening it up until it no longer works for real.
Regarding new phones, the main problem I have with them nowadays is that they're all going big, both physically and metaphorically. Fucking huge 5.5 inch phones with 1080p screens, quad core cpus, super expensive internal storage options (with no SD port) and non-user accessible shitty batteries (because they have to power all the useless tech in them and still make them super thin). Everybody is copying the iPhone model. I don't need any of that - Give me sub 5 inch screen and a huge ass battery and I'll be fine.
If I had to buy a new phone today and had money to spend would be the Z3 Compact, but that's based on old research. My roomate recently had to change her phone and I did a ton of research on entry-level phones and the Moto E/G Second Generation line of phones seemed pretty alright. I personally think the Moto G offers a couple of unnecessary things: It has a bigger screen, higher resolution (5.0-inch 720p on the G, 4.5-inch 960 x 540 on the E) and a smaller battery than the Moto E. Only real downgrade of the E are the Cameras (VGA front camera? Really?) and the lack of Flash on back camera. They both have 4G models, both got recently updated to 5.1 (Moto E still rolling out), no custom home screens and have external SD slots. She ended up deciding for the Moto E (it was like 20% cheaper on a crazy sale).
My only fear is that we'll stop getting updates for our good old Nexus 4. 5.1 already took a long ass while to come, and we're totally off the "18 month period" that's now the Google standard. Sure, there's always cyanogenmod, but yeah...
Taco_Human
Member
5.1.1 just released a day or two ago. Time to update.
Also, yeah I forgot they rereleased the N4 with nubs on the back. Mine is a lunch model. Doesn't have those.
Also, yeah I forgot they rereleased the N4 with nubs on the back. Mine is a lunch model. Doesn't have those.
BomberMouse
Member
There's a new version of the N4 without the pretty sparks on the back?
Taco_Human
Member
Not the sparks. When it came out, the backside of the phone was completely flat. I have this one. Without anything on it, it slides around.
They updated it not long after with tiny little nubs of ruber on the back to give it a bit more grip and to not let it slide around as much.
BomberMouse
Member
I see, I got the flat one too but I use a case since the back glass seems super fragile.