Nexus 4 review

Some of you may remember the post titled 'A Nerd's Dilemma' in which I wrote about the at the time difficult question of which smartphone to go with. The question solved itself ten days after the post had been published, when Google announced the Nexus 4. 

In theory at least. Actually getting my hands on the phone has proven to be an exercise in frustration: First it was near impossible to order the phone from the Google Play Store. When I finally got around to ordering it on December 5th the expected delivery time was 5-6 weeks. Suddenly on December 21st I received a DHL tracking code. Would the phone be delivered in time for Christmas after all? Well no. It arrived in a DHL warehouse about 15 km away from where I live on the 24th, then sat there until January 2nd.

All in all the process of acquiring the phone was much more difficult than it should have been. Google and their hardware partners (LG in this case) need to work on improving it. 

As it turns out the phone was well worth the wait and the hassle.

The hardware

The exterior is an example of subtle, demure design. It still looks and feels like a high-end phone. Pleasant to hold in your hand, yet not as heavy as one would think looking at pictures of the phone. Size-wise it's big, but not too big - the 4.7" screen is easily used with just one hand. The iPhone 5 seems small, almost too small compared to it - particularly the screen width. The Samsung Galaxy SIII is roughly the same size as the Nexus 4; it does look and feel cheaper though with its plasticky design (as opposed to Gorilla Glass on front and back of the Nexus 4). Then there's the question of vanilla Android vs. Samsung TouchWiz - more about that below.

Size comparison of Nexus 4 vs Galaxy SIII. Image credit: phoneArena.com

The screen of the Nexus 4 is simply gorgeous. At a screen resolution of 1280 x 768 shows a lot of details on web pages or photos. The pixel density beats that of so-called 'retina' displays of certain other popular smartphones. Colours look very natural regardless of the ambient lighting (using the auto brightness setting); text is as crisp and well readable as you would expect from a HD resolution phone. 

As for the guts of the Nexus 4: It's powered by a quadcore Snapdragon S4 CPU, supported by 2 GB of RAM. Suffice to say the performance is excellent at all times. Heavy multitasking? No problem at all. Storage-wise the model I have comes with 16 GB of internal storage (12.5 GB of which are available to the user), with no option to add more storage via SD card. For me this is no problem, since I don't have the habit of copying my entire media collection onto my phone. Your mileage may vary though.

The software

One of the downsides of Android are the various so-called enhancements OEMs add to the user interface. Be it HTC Sense of Samsung TouchWiz - neither of the OEM UIs is as elegant as the Android 4.2 stock user interface on Nexus devices. It's difficult to pinpoint; to me vanilla Android is much more fluid to use than 'TouchWiz Nature UX' (whoever came up with that name anyway?) on the Galaxy SIII. Again, your mileage may vary.

iOS looks and feels dated compared to Android 4.2. We're talking about a 2007-style wall of icons with clunky multitasking vs a flexible user interface allowing for all sorts of customisation here. The same goes for the stock apps - Apple's offerings are too basic (or downright dysfunctional. Apple Maps, anyone?), whereas the Android counterparts are fully functional and look much more modern than what we find on iOS. It's no surprise how many iPhone users resort to Google apps on their devices these days, or have switched to a Nexus device completely. But I digress.

Third-party applications on Android aren't as much of an unholy mess of crappy looking UIs as they were only a year ago. Many popular apps make use of the Android 4.x 'Holo' theme these days. Some could use an overhaul (yes WhatsApp, I'm looking at you), sure. For the most part however the user experience is consistently designed.

Oh, and the infamous Android lag? It's gone, helped by the optimisations in Android 'Jelly Bean' and beefy hardware powering the Nexus 4. Everything works as snappy as can be.

Wrap-up

There you have it - this nerd has solved his smartphone dilemma by purchasing the flagship Android phone. It took a lot of patience to get it. The reward? I own a high-end device while having paid the price of a mid-range phone. The 16 GB Nexus 4 cost me €349; significantly less than the Galaxy SIII, the iPhone 5 or a Windows Phone 8 device would have cost off contract. With it being an Android reference device I don't have to worry about being stuck in a dead-end street software-wise, as was the case with my previous phone - a Nokia Lumia 800. I'm likely going to keep the Nexus 4 for a long time; Its eventual successor is definitely going to be another Android Nexus phone.